By Azad Majumder
Dhaka, Jan 5 (EFE).- Bangladesh is set to hold general elections this weekend, overshadowed by the opposition’s boycott and lingering doubts about the legitimacy of the voting process, poised to secure Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s fourth consecutive term.
Some 1,900 candidates from 29 parties are vying for the 300 parliamentary seats.
However, the majority have been endorsed or nominated by the ruling Awami League, as the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and its allies have opted to boycott the elections.
The decision to boycott stems from Hasina’s refusal to dissolve her government and establish an interim administration to oversee the elections, a crucial demand from the opposition following allegations of poll fraud in 2018.
The opposition is also citing security force repression that forced them to take the decision.
The BNP has decried the arrest of over 24,000 of its leaders and activists by the police since Oct. 28, when a major anti-government demonstration was quashed by security forces.
In response, the BNP has labeled the elections as a “sham,” initiated general strikes and blockades, and urged the public to abstain from paying taxes and participating in the electoral process.
“We are getting excellent responses from people. Despite the oppression and repression of the government, we could reach many people. They are also frustrated with the behavior of the government,” BNP spokesperson Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told EFE.
The challenges for the BNP-led opposition are abundant.
Its leader, Khaleda Zia, is banned from politics. Her son, interim party president Tarique Rahman, in stuck in London since 2008 following multiple convictions.
The ruling Awami League accuses the BNP of attempting to seize power “illegally,” asserting that the public does not support them due to their tainted past.
“They are trying to grab power in an illegal way. These corrupt, fugitive people are always busy hatching conspiracies,” Awami League joint secretary general Bahauddin Nasim told EFE.
The two parties have led Bangladesh since 1991, except for a brief quasi-military government in 2007-2008.
The lack of a legitimate opposition in the upcoming elections may be perceived as a challenge to the new government’s credibility, experts suggest.
“What is being scheduled on Jan. 7, 2024, in Bangladesh cannot be called an election by any standard,” Ali Riaz, a Bangladeshi-American political scientist at Illinois State University, told EFE.
“It does not meet basic criterion of an election. Key conditions of an election are to have the uncertainty of results and competition with the opposition which has some chances to win. None of these exist.”
Riaz said it was at best a “state-managed show” with opposition leaders and activists thrown into jail and convicted in “lightning speed,” and seats divided among the allies of the incumbents.
The only question around the elections, with the ruling party certain of victory, is who will emerge as its opposition in parliament since there isn’t a clear favorite.
The Jatiya Party, founded by the military dictator, the late HM Ershad, is playing the role of the Awami League’s hand-picked opposition in the current parliament after the main opposition BNP failed to get more than seven seats in the heavily manipulated 2018 general election.
The Awami League has granted a significant concession to the Jatiya Party to make the election appear legitimate.
The ruling party did not field candidates in 26 seats, where Jatiya Party bigwigs are contesting.
However, the strategy does not guarantee victory for Jatiya Party candidates in all the 26 seats, as many Awami League leaders contest as independents.
In addition, other newly created political parties are competing in the elections, made up mostly of former BNP leaders, who could obtain several seats and even replace the Jatiya Party as the official opposition. EFE
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